The first best thing about these strawberry cheesecake parfaits is that they taste just like you hope they will...a little bit strawberry, a little bit cheesecake, a whole lotta delicious. The second best thing about them is that you can make them in (I'm not kidding) about 15 minutes. No baking. No waiting. Just quick and pretty little parfaits with no muss and no fuss. Read More & Get the Recipe

Cool pasta salad is one of my very very favorite things to make on a hot summer evening. You get all of the satisfaction of an honest to goodness supper, all in a delicious, refreshing plateful. And when you add in some tender seafood and a ginger dressing with just the right amount of bite to it, all the cares of your hazy hot and humid day will vanish away. Promise. Read More & Get the Recipe

I've had this recipe for about one million years, and I both love and make it so much that the Southern husband gets that beef barley soup look in his eyes when I pull out the recipe, which is an interesting combo of "I like that soup!" and "wow, is she really making that AGAIN?" But I can't help it...this soup is cool and refreshing and delicious and only involves one kitchen appliance and that is the blender. Highly satisfying in so very many ways.
So here's the scoop. Pull out that blender and toss in the following: some cucumber (get the English kind if you can. They are usually shrinkwrapped in plastic next to the cucumbers with the regular old American accent. Why? No idea. But they have less seeds and if you can get 'em, they're great.) Then some avocado, some yogurt, a little lime juice, some minced jalapeno, some salt and pepper and a little ice water. Press that puree button, baby.And that puree sound is the MOST satisfying thing, can I just say? In about one minute it Read More & Get the Recipe

I am always too enthusiastic when it comes to buying fresh summer strawberries. They just look so dang good in the market, and I pile them into my cart with reckless abandon. But strawberries are fragile little things, and before I have been able to eat my way through the giant strawberry pile they start looking a little peaked. (I love that word, peaked. I just looked it up to make sure I had the definition absolutely correct, and it means "weak and wan." It reminds me of books like The Secret Garden.)
Anyway, this recipe is the answer to peaked strawberries. When they start to get a little weak and wan and sad and dried-looking, it's time to spring into action and make this absolutely mouthwatering silky smooth dessert, and all you need are the berries, a few other assorted ingredients, your food processor and your freezer. No need to haul out the ice cream maker.
Here's all you need to do. Cut the stems and any really suspicious looking areas off your sad strawberries. If you Read More & Get the Recipe

I am a sucker for any recipe that has "one bowl" in the title. And this particular one comes from one of my favorite go-to cookbooks for those crazy weeknights when you come home and you pretty much have no time whatsover to get dinner on the table...or maybe you have the time but you would rather spend it elsewhere...and that is DINNER DOCTOR. The philosophy of this particular cookbook is that it is perfectly fine to use a few convenience foods in the preparation of your delicious home-cooked meal, thereby speeding whatever it is along just a little more quickly to the dinner table.
Ironically, this specific recipe actually doesn't include any convenience foods -- unless you count the fact that I sent the Southern husband out into the dead of winter to grill the chicken breasts, so that they were conveniently all nice and cooked when I was ready to make dinner. (My honey. Neither rain nor snow nor dead of night will keep the man from his grill.) Once you have some nice cooked Read More & Get the Recipe

This week at the Jackson House is "Breakfast For Dinner Week," which we do every once in a while and then while it is going on always wonder why we don't do it MORE. Dinners are quicker and easier to make, they feel very comfort-food-ish, and are pretty light and healthy. And as someone who is out of the house by 6:15 am every day and eats a hard-boiled egg on the fly, it addresses my breakfast food deprivation issues.
The only challenge with Breakfast For Dinner Week is coming up with menus that don't involve having eggs five nights in a row. Egg entries are always easy: this week we are having scrambled eggs with pesto and fresh ricotta, French omelets, French toast (aka bread soaked in egg). Huevos rancheros are always a popular entry, as is pasta carbonara, which is stretching the Breakfast For Dinner concept a little far, but who's counting? In the winter I work in my favorite cinnamon oatmeal with apples and raisins, but in the dog days of summer not even the cooperative Read More & Get the Recipe

Hi there! I’m Kate, and welcome to my world of cooking, taking pictures of what I’ve cooked, eating it up and then doing the whole thing all over again. My camera and I try to get in and out of the kitchen with delectable meals that are both quick and interesting, which is my favorite combination... If you want to know more….